Not So Ordinary
by WishingDreamer5
Summary: Lea meets a sweet girl who becomes his friend and secret crush. But someone else already has claimed her as his own. Silly, silly Lea for falling in love with someone else's girl. The guy may act all innocent and oblivious, but Lea saw it in his eyes; he wants her, too and he would do anything he can for that. But who will the girl choose?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Originally my first entry for LJ's kh drabble community's challenge [266] _Going back_. Also, after I wrote this, I realized that this could be my answer to Wolfbane706, who requested a pairing that one would never expect. Hope you like! Enjoy. ;)**

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><p>Hollow Bastion looked a heck of a lot better than the last time Axel had visited the place.<p>

At first, he had no idea why he kept coming back here, until he started to see a pattern in his own thoughts and actions. That was when the name "Lea" was remembered again, his previous self, his Other, his Somebody. There were so many names for it and they all lead to the same memories, the same pain… the same girl.

That's right, once upon a time, Axel had been Lea. Silly, silly Lea for falling in love with someone else's girl. He had never made the same mistake again.

This twisted fairytale had all started on an extraordinarily sunny day. As always, Lea had been outside, playing with his frisbees. He was all alone because Isa, a.k.a. Saïx with a heart, had been too busy with studying, or something. He had told Lea to start studying, too, since his notes weren't that great and his parents wouldn't probably be too happy about that, either.

_"Nah... Think I'll pass_," he had said, grinning lazily.

How funny, he could still remember it like it was yesterday…

…_After throwing one of those frisbees as hard as he can, it disappears behind a corner. Instantly, he hears a startled yelp, causing him to snigger. That's when he meets her, the angel. The girl ducked right in time and now that she sees what has tried to attack her, she grabs the object._

_"Throw it back!" Lea exclaims, but she shakes her head and smiles brightly._

_"I can't aim," she explains, with her beautiful smile and glistening, emerald green eyes, walking towards him with the frisbee in one hand and a basket with a few flowers in the other. "Be careful, though. You could hurt passersby."_

_But Lea insists on teaching her (Aerith is her name) how to properly throw a frisbee, showing her his best tricks. She stays, enjoying it and giving him a yellow and white lily in the end, as a 'Thank You.'_

_"See you around?" he asks then, rather hopefully._

_"If you want to…"_

_Later, Lea often sees her on the market. He decides to ask her how she's doing, but in that other boy's presence he feels uneasy. It's like Aerith's choosing this Cloud over him._

_When Cloud takes a flower out of her basket and puts it in her hair, Lea decides to leave, ignoring Aerith's calls. Cloud probably acts like he doesn't know what's going on, but Lea saw it in his eyes; Cloud wants her, too._

_Days later, Aerith visits him, but he tells her he doesn't want to have anything to do with her anymore. He just can't. Eventually, Aerith gives up._

_That's how Lea's fairytale ends._

Time had been good to her. She was even more beautiful now.

He kept coming back to watch her from a safe distance. Right now, she was gardening.

Axel wondered what she would say if she saw him. Would she recognize him? Had she missed him? Had she ever thought about him?

Just when he decided to approach her, another figure appeared behind her, which Axel immediately recognized. He would never forget those blond spikes. It was Cloud Strife.

Axel watched as the man gave her a flower. A white and yellow lily, to be more precise. The same flower as he had put in her hair ten years ago.

Was that a sign?

Axel sighed. Honestly, what was he doing? He was supposed to continue with his mission. Besides, she wasn't even _that_ pretty. Spikes could keep her.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm fully aware that this might all seem to go a little fast (at least, for me) and I'm actually planning to write a longer version of this in which more will be explained. Of course, if you think that I should do you all a favor and stop right here, before I make a complete idiot out of myself, then I won't add another chapter to this.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: It took me a while (sorry for that), but here it is, the longer version of "Not So Ordinary." Hope you like! :)**

**Thanks: Bond Of Flame08, Jane St. Valentine, sakuraharunoluver7, Princess of the Knight, LBWind, and M. L. Ayala, my beta reader.**

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><p><em>~ Cloud may act like he didn't know what was going on, but Lea saw it in his eyes; Cloud wanted her, too. ~<em>

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><p>"Wow!" Axel whistled softly and lowly, taking in the rather impressive sight in front of him. He had to admit, Hollow Bastion looked a heck of a lot better, compared to the last time he had visited the place. "Well, well... It seems that the members of the oh so famous Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee actually know what they're doing? How interesting," he said, to no one in particular.<p>

He could even go far enough to say that he was _almost_ impressed, just like he was _almost_ feeling bad for the ones who had to restore this world to its former glory. But he didn't really have the heart for it. Axel smirked at his own pun, looking around and deciding where he should go first. Not that he had to think about that for long. He always went to the same place.

At first, he had truly no idea why he kept coming back here, until he started to see a certain (peculiar) pattern in his own thoughts and actions after a few visits. That was when the name "Lea" was remembered again, his previous self, his Other, his Somebody. There were so many names for it and they all lead to the same memories, the same pain… the same girl.

That was right, once upon a time, Axel had been Lea. Silly, silly Lea for falling in love with someone else's girl. He had never made the same mistake again.

Sometimes, Axel wished he could go back to the time where he had completely forgotten about that girl, because as soon as he remembered her again, he felt how empty the place inside him was, where his heart was supposed to be. And with Roxas completely gone, there was nobody to comfort him, or make him feel otherwise.

Every time he thought back to her, he couldn't help but wonder how much she had changed. Had she gone back to Hollow Bastion again? (And why was it that he had the strange feeling that that world used to have another name?)

This twisted, twisted fairytale had all started on an extraordinarily sunny day, when Hollow Bastion had still been known as Radiant Garden. It was just before summer vacation. The thing with this period was that all teachers tried to give them a last test. Apparently, they saw it as a great opportunity for their pupils to get one last good note. For Lea, it was one last try at making his parents' blood boil (and somehow, he always succeeded in that).

As always, Lea had been outside, playing with his awesome bomb Frisbees. He was all alone because Isa, a.k.a. Saïx with a heart and a slightly better sense of humor (although you really had to know him to notice the difference), had been too busy with studying. He had told Lea to start studying, too, since his notes weren't that great and his parents wouldn't probably be too happy about that, either.

How funny, he could still remember it like it was yesterday... even though he had long forgotten about it until last week.

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><p><em><strong>~ Flashback ~<strong>_

"As..._tempting_ as that sounds, I think I want to pass."

"Oh, come _on_, Isa," Lea whined, giving him the puppy eyes-look.

Isa looked at him from the corner of his eyes, before he told him, "If you don't mind-"

"But I do! Why else do you think I'm asking you?" Lea interrupted him, his bright green eyes glinting.

"I'd rather not waste my time, and learn for the History test tomorrow," he continued, as if nothing had happened. "You should do that, too, because I don't think your parents will be that happy with your notes. And wipe that weird look off your face. You look like an idiot."

Lea decided to ignore his last comment, since Isa always got this snappy when he was under pressure. Talk about male PMS. He would pay for it later, in one way or another, since Lea was the King of Pranks.

_"_Nah... Think I'll pass," he said, grinning lazily. "Unbelievable! You really are the most boring person I've ever met, Isa. It's like you have no life at all."

"Thanks," his older friend muttered, rather sarcastically, not bothering to even pretend to be listening to the redhead.

"That wasn't a compliment, you know?"

"..." This time, there was no reaction from the older teen at all.

Lea sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes, his best friend was such a stuck up that he had frankly no idea how to react on it.

"Fine. I'll go all by myself and let you sit here, poisoning your own brains with Gaia knows what. You'll miss out all the fun," Lea said, before giving up altogether and leaving his friend's house.

Before he had reached the door, though, he accidentally bumped into a rack where all his video games were. They all clattered to the ground, making a loud, annoying noise. Isa looked up from his history book, with an utterly annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry. I didn't do that on purpose. I swear!" Lea swiftly said, putting his hands up in the air, in a motion that said that he meant no harm. "I'll fix this right away."

"Please don't. You might just break something with your attempts. Now get out."

"But-"

"Don't let me repeat that," Isa threatened, giving him a dark look.

"Okay, okay. Jeez, you're no fun at all," Lea cried, glaring at him, before leaving him alone to study.

There was nobody outside in the street, which was a good thing, because now Lea could play with his two cool Frisbees without being annoyed by annoying little kids who couldn't keep their hands off of his babies (which were his bomb Frisbees).

After a while, though, he had to admit that playing outside all alone - without an almost always serious Isa by his side - was quite uhm... well, _boring_. He hated that fact, but it was the truth. Not that he would ever tell his silver-haired friend that. He would only get more cocky if he did so and that was the last thing Lea needed.

Slightly frustrated at how things weren't going the way he wanted them to, Lea threw one of the bomb Frisbees away as hard as he could. It disappeared behind a corner. Instantly, he heard a startled yelp, causing him to snigger softly. He could tell from that yelp that it was a girl.

_Hah, good for her!_ the redhead thought with a smirk.

It was her own stupid fault for being there, anyway... whoever it was.

However, he wasn't prepared to see someone like her... The girl seemed to be a little younger than him, but the strange thing was that she looked like an angel. No, she was even prettier than that, with her long, light brown hair put together in a long braid, thanks to a red hair ribbon. However, there was one thing that practically left him breathless in a not cool way; her shimmering, emerald green eyes that locked onto his matching ones and captivated him like no one had ever done.

He guessed that the pretty girl, clad in a light pink dress, had ducked right in time to avoid getting the object in her face, because she didn't look hurt, mad or upset at all. In fact, she was giving him a warm, radiant smile that made his heart skip a beat or two. Just who was that girl? Lea was sure that he had never seen her before...

Now that she finally saw what had tried to attack her, she picked the object up from the ground and looked at him, almost curiously.

"Hey, what are you waiting for? Throw it back!" Lea exclaimed with a wave of his hands to get her attention, but she shook her head and smiled brightly.

"Oh... But I can't aim," she explained, with that beautiful smile and glistening eyes, walking towards him with the Frisbee in one hand and a big, light-colored basket with a few beautiful flowers in the other. Lea guessed that she had just come back from the market, selling those flowers, or something. "Be careful, though. You could hurt passersby," she warned him, sounding serious now.

She handed him the Frisbee, which Lea took from her, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Don't worry. There wasn't anyone here for the past minutes," he assured her. "So... what's your name?"

"It's Aerith," she told him.

"Aerith..." he repeated, as if he was tasting the name on his tongue. It had something... something he could not name, but it was a good thing. "I'm Lea," he said, extending his right hand towards her so she would shake it, which she eagerly did. "That's L-E-A. Got it memorized?"

Aerith laughed at that. "Sure. Well, it was nice to meet you, Lea... I guess I should go now, so you can continue playing that game. Bye."

She turned around and walked away, probably heading home.

"No, wait!" Lea swiftly cried, stepping up to her and grabbing her free hand right in time, only to discover how soft to the touch it was. It marveled him and made him want to touch her hand over and over again.

Aerith turned around, giving him a questioning look. "What is it?"

It was now or never... It didn't hurt to try, right?

"How about I teach you how to properly throw a Frisbee? You know, as a payback of almost hurting you with it."

Aerith thought about it for a while, but she had her concerns. "I don't know. What if _I_ end up hurting _you_? Or what if I break the Frisbee, or something worse?"

Lea laughed, assuring her. "Don't worry. Like that's gonna happen when you have the best Frisbee teacher in this world helping you."

Aerith still wasn't sure, but Lea kept insisting until she finally yielded.

"Very well, then. I'll stay," she decided.

Lea secretly cheered in his head.

"Nice! Put your basket over there, so you won't fall over it," he said, waiting for her to do that, before continuing with, "Okay. Ready?"

She nodded, even though she looked worried. Lea wondered if it was because she thought she wouldn't be good enough.

"Okay, then. Here we go. The most important thing you should know, is to concentrate. You're right-handed, right?" Lea asked.

"Yes."

"Good. Now stand like this, with your left foot stepping back this way..." Lea helped her stand properly and continued. "Now, when you throw a Frisbee you've got to hold it like this..."

Again, he helped her with getting her hand right, before showing her the next steps. Lea had to admit that she was learning fast. After Aerith had grasped the basic steps, he showed her some of his best tricks. He was even happier when he saw that she was pretty impressed several times. It made Lea's heart skip a beat.

When she had to go home, she turned to him and said, "Thanks for teaching me, Lea. I really enjoyed it and at least now I know what I've been doing wrong all the time."

"Oh, don't mention it. It was fun teaching you."

"I'm glad you think so." Taking a yellow and white lily out of the basket, the most beautiful one she had, she gave it to him. "This is for you, as a 'Thank You.'"

"Oh, uh... thanks, I guess," he said, sheepishly, taking the flower from her and looking at it.

He could only imagine what Isa would say as soon as he saw him with this flower in his hands. Hah, and he would probably be jealous, too.

"See you around?" he asked her then, rather hopefully.

Yes, he knew that he was being pathetic, but something about her just drew him to her, whether it was her young, angelic features, or her big, innocent eyes, or perhaps even her sweet, gentle voice.

"If you want to…" she said, making it sound like a question, though.

If he wanted to?

_If _he wanted to? Was she being serious? There was no 'if' here. Of course he did! Who wouldn't want to see her more often?

"Sure," he said, nodding enthusiastically.

She smiled at him. "Great! Take care."

Oh, he certainly would. "You too, Aerith."

The teenager watched her go and then ran a hand through his hair. Boy oh boy, had she just turned his world upside down!

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><p>When Lea returned to Isa's, his best friend noticed immediately that something had happened.<p>

"What's with the goofy grin on your face?" Isa questioned when he looked up from his work to see that Lea was back again.

"That's for me to know and for you... _not_ to know. Your own fault for not coming with me to see it yourself."

Isa rolled his eyes, until he spotted something else. "Wait a second... why are _you_ holding a flower?"

It seemed that he had a lot of explaining to do.

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><p>Later, Lea often saw her on the market. He would always stop by and ask her how business was going and sometimes, she would even give him a flower, because according to her, he was her special friend.<p>

Oh, how happy he was to hear that coming from her. She seemed to be all that mattered to him lately. Lea even dreamed about her at night. She would always smile at him and say that she only liked to be with him...

Today, he decided to ask her how she was doing, too.

"Hey, Aerith," he said, cheerfully, giving her his trademark lazy grin.

"Hi! I didn't expect to see you here," she admitted, smiling at him.

"Oh, I was just nearby, so I decided to pay you a visit," he swiftly lied.

Truth was that he had been watching her for quite a while now. He hadn't been nearby, he had come her deliberately.

"That's so sweet of you, Lea."

"Oh well, I just li-" the teenager started, only to be interrupted by another male teen.

"Aerith, I got your drink. It's your favorite," Cloud said.

When he stood next to Aerith, he gave Lea a cool look.

"Thanks, Cloud. Guess who decided to pay me a visit and say 'hi'?" Aerith said, turning to the blonde teen.

"That's... nice of him," was all the spiky-haired boy said.

Lea knew it was strange, but in this Cloud's presence he always felt uneasy. Lea wasn't much taller than him. It was like Aerith was choosing this Cloud over him.

When Cloud took a flower out of her basket and put it in her hair, Lea decided to leave, ignoring Aerith's calls.

"What was that all about?" she wondered, perplexed.

Cloud shrugged, even though he knew fully well what was wrong. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Cloud may act like he didn't know what was going on, but Lea saw it in his eyes; Cloud wanted her, too.

By the looks of it, it was a lost battle for Lea, because Cloud already had her and he wasn't ever planning on letting her go. That much was obvious from the many times that he tried to ruin Lea's meeting with Aerith... and he succeeded.

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><p>Days later, Aerith visited him in his house, trying to reasoning with him, but he told her he didn't want to have anything to do with her anymore. He just couldn't. Not now that he had realized that he would probably always stay a friend for her. Special or not, he wanted more. He couldn't stand having that Cloud guy around her all the friggin' time. Eventually, Aerith gave up. He didn't know if he should glad about that, or disappointed.<p>

However, the hurt look on her face said enough about the damage he had caused. He was sure that he would never forget that expression, no matter how hard he tried.

That was how Lea's fairytale ended, although he didn't think one could call that a fairytale. Where was the happy ending, where he would fight with Cloud, the bad guy and win the Princess's (angel's) heart and then live a happily ever after in a big castle?

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><p>Axel could see that time had been really good to her. She was even more beautiful now, a grown woman, clad in pink from head to toe.<p>

He kept coming back to her, almost every single day, to watch her from a safe distance. Right now, she was gardening, turning this once beautiful world back into a radiant garden, full of the most beautiful flowers one had ever seen. It was interesting to see that she was always smiling. Every day, she seemed to be in a much better mood than the previous one.

Axel wondered what she would say if she saw him. Would she recognize him? Had she missed him? Had she ever thought about him throughout all those years? Well, there was only one way to find out, right? He just hoped that she wouldn't get scared and run away. After all, having red hair wasn't always a benefit.

Just when he decided to approach her, another figure appeared behind her, which Axel immediately recognized. After all, he always used to ruin all the plans Axel had with Aerith and he would never forget those blond spikes. It was Cloud Strife.

Axel watched as the man gave her a flower. A white and yellow lily, to be more precise. Now that he looked closer, he was fairly sure that it was the same kind of flower as he had put in her hair ten years ago.

Was that a sign?

Aerith smiled at him, as she took the flower from him. Next, he pulled her to him, resting his hand under her chin. Their faces came closer and Aerith closed her eyes when he kissed her on the lips.

Axel sighed, tearing his eyes away from the horrific scene. For the first time in his afterlife, he was glad that he didn't have a heart. The pain would have been intolerable.

Honestly, what was he doing here? He was supposed to continue with his important mission. When he finally had Roxas back, he was sure he would forget about her.

Besides, she wasn't even _that_ pretty. Spikes could keep her if that meant that he could have his heart back.

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><p><strong>AN: It's strange how I'm mainly writing about crack pairings lately (even though this was one-sided... and I'm not too happy with it, to be honest). There was a time that I used to prefer canon only...**

**A special 'Thank You' to my reviewers: LBWind, Princess of the Knight, NoOneXIII, and last, but certainly not least, Bond Of Flame08.**


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